7 cops face raps over pedicab driver’s death

MANILA, Philippines - Seven Manila Police District (MPD) police officers are facing homicide charges for the death of a pedicab driver they arrested last Sunday.

Homicide investigators said the respondents belong to the MPD Station 10’s anti-crime unit: Chief Inspector Dennis Gimena, who heads the unit; Police Officers 3 Shiela Tadlas and Reynaldo Felipe; Police Officers 2 Orville Resuello, Nino Anthony Alfonso; and Police Officers 1 Darwin Morales and Rod Moralidad.

The charges against them stemmed from the death of  Russel Biligan, 35, of Kahilum II, Pandacan last Sunday.

The respondents said Biligan grabbed a police officer’s gun after they arrested him and several others at an illegal cockfight. 

Investigators said footage taken by closed-circuit television cameras showed Moralidad grabbing Biligan by the neck and there was no raid on the cockfight.

“It seems that they only wanted to take Biligan but Moralidad accidentally shot him,” a source from the MPD said.

“Instead of taking Biligan to the hospital, the police officers just stood around him until a barangay (councilman) insisted that he be taken to a hospital,” the source added.